Chennai Port-Maduravoyal Project: Work likely to begin in December

The tenders for the construction of a two-tier, four-lane elevated corridor from Port to Maduravoyal under the Prime Minister Gati Shakti programme were called for last month.
Chennai Port-Maduravoyal Project: Work likely to begin in December

CHENNAI: Work on the 20.6km double-decker elevated highway between Chennai Port and Maduravoyal, built at a cost of Rs 5,855, crore is likely to start by December or January, according to National Highway Authority of India sources.

The tenders for the construction of a two-tier, four-lane elevated corridor from Port to Maduravoyal under the Prime Minister Gati Shakti programme were called for last month. The elevated corridor will be constructed in four packages. Of the 20.6 km, the 12-km corridor will be a double-decked corridor. While the project would take 24 months to 36 months to complete, the focus is on getting the land belonging to the Indian Navy by building separate quarters for them on the army land in Saidapet.

Sources said that only when the houses are built for the Navy personnel then only the land will be made available to the NHAI. It is learnt that NHAI has been mandated to build houses for Navy personnel. “A total of two blocks of 32 flats each will be built by NHAI,” sources told TNIE. Interestingly, NHAI officials refused to comment on the land being provided by Chennai Port Trust in exchange for Navy land. “That Indian Navy and Chennai Port have to resolve it,” the official said.

The project, which was inaugurated by two Prime Ministers, was initially suspended in 2012 due to a row between the Water Resources Department (WRD) and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) during the regime of then CM J Jayalalitha. In 2015, Nitin Gandkari, then Union Shipping Minister, wanted to break the deadlock and was working on an out-of-court settlement since 2016.

Larsen and Toubro redesigning plan
After an initial Detailed Project Report was submitted in 2019 to revive the project, Gadkari asked Larsen and Toubro to redesign the project as a double-decker elevated corridor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the project in May 2022.

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